Jim Knowles’ defense produced at Ohio State, but it asked a lot from players mentally. New coordinator Matt Patricia chose a different path: react fast, play fast. For a defensive lineman, that shift can change a whole season. Eddrick Houston has offered one of the clearest looks at why this new defense has clicked so quickly in the locker room.

“With Coach Knowles, I feel like we were pretty much a 4-2-5 defense,” Eddrick Houston said on The Bobby Carpenter Show with Anthony Schlegel. “Switching over to Matt Patricia, it’s multiple. We go three down, four down, sometimes five, sometimes six. It really doesn’t matter.”

Houston’s point is straightforward. Under Knowles, a single motion could flip the entire call. That extra split second of thinking made linemen hesitate. Patricia cuts out that mental step. Fronts change less with motion, so the snap count becomes the trigger. That is why Houston says offenses find it harder to reach him now.

Houston spent two seasons in Jim Knowles’ system before Matt Patricia became DC. He still respects the coach who recruited him to Columbus and moved him from defensive end to 3-technique tackle. But he was clear about what changed.

“Coach P coming from the league so he has his terminology,” he added. “With Coach Knowles, the defense was just one word. It was just one word, and if someone motions, the whole thing switches. So that was a little harder to get to. But with Coach Patricia, he tried to simplify so you just play fast. So you just go forward pretty much.”

Houston was careful not to criticize Knowles. He said he enjoyed his time under his former coordinator. He sees Patricia as the extra step the defense needed.

“He brings in just so much, not just for football, but just as a person in general that you can go talk to, sit down with,” he added. “And he has that NFL experience that you need if you want to get to that next level.”

Houston sees the change as more than just helping Ohio State’s defense. He believes it also keeps offenses guessing because they never know what’s coming. So when he was asked if that gives him more chances to go after the QB, he didn’t even need to think about it.

“Yeah, for sure,” he answered. “People can’t really game plan for just one type of defense because we’ll start off 4-2-5, switch to 3-3, and you’ve got to adjust [on every snap]. Coach Patricia makes it so simple and just so like you could just go out there and play fast without thinking, which is really what D-linemen love. Just to go forward and wreak havoc.”

That confidence is arriving at the right time for the former five-star recruit.

Healthy Eddrick Houston fits Patricia’s plan

Houston’s sophomore season was interrupted by a leg injury that slowed his development. He finished with 21 tackles, four for loss and three sacks. All three sacks and every tackle for loss came in his final seven games, when he finally started to look comfortable inside. He admitted in the spring that last season wasn’t as good as he expected it to be.

“I don’t think I played the best I could,” he told the Sentinel-Tribune in April. “At Ohio State, we teach to be the best version of yourself. Last year was not my best version.”

Now healthy, the 6-foot-3, 295-pound junior believes he can take a big step forward, and defensive line coach Larry Johnson has echoed that optimism.

Ohio State must replace key defenders like Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles and Arvell Reese. That will not be easy. But if Houston is right, Matt Patricia has made the job simpler. He is asking players to trust their instincts, play fast and create problems for offenses.